


Sister Bonding Makes The Blues More Bearable

by Badgersprite



Series: Sister Bonding/Spilled Beers [1]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-29 09:21:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8483974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Badgersprite/pseuds/Badgersprite
Summary: A missing sister bonding scene from 2x04. While Kara is bummed about Roulette getting away with her crimes, Alex is secretly moping about Maggie apparently having a girlfriend.





	

“I can’t believe Veronica Sinclair got off scot-free, after all that,” said Kara, frowning as she cleaned up what little remained of dinner, throwing the empty takeaway containers into the trash and clearing the plates from the table. “I guess, in a way, she was right; the law really doesn’t care about aliens. Whoever paid her way out of those charges certainly doesn’t.”

 

“That’s going to change,” Alex assured her, resting on the far end of the couch, waiting for Kara to come join her so they could both take their minds off things with Netflix, or a DVD. “I mean, we just passed an Alien Amnesty Act. If that doesn’t show we’re making progress, I don’t know what does.”

 

“Yeah, you’re right,” Kara acknowledged, comforted by the thought of people like The President leading the world in a positive direction. “It’s just not a nice feeling to realise that, no matter how far we come in the next few years, all her clients – rich, influential people – had no problem watching aliens fight like animals. We stopped Sinclair for now, but someone else is probably running a ring in Metropolis, and in Chicago, and in Gotham. Even if it does become a crime soon, that doesn’t mean those beliefs that allowed it to happen have changed. Some of those people may always hold the same views, no matter what.”

 

Alex peered at Kara curiously. It wasn’t like her to sound so pessimistic, though maybe that was too strong of a word. It was an issue she was passionate about, after all, for obvious reasons. Then again, Kara had been confronting her own cultural baggage surrounding Krypton and Daxam lately. Her own parents hadn’t been above prejudices. Perhaps that had forced her to reassess some things.

 

“I don’t know. Maybe that doesn’t make sense.” Kara shrugged, brows pensively knitted together.

 

“No, it does,” said Alex. In fact, she understood better than Kara knew.

 

She may not have been an alien but, well, aliens were hardly the only group forced to hide who they were, or who faced discrimination, rejection and outright hostility, even as a regular part of ‘public debate’ just in America alone.

 

Case in point, Kara didn’t even know that Alex fell into one such category.

 

As if to drive home that thought, Alex’s phone buzzed.

 

“Don’t tell me it’s work,” Kara whined as Alex checked her phone, lamenting the thought that they would have to delay sister night. “I hate being alone on Halloween. It just makes me sad that I live in an area where everyone is over twenty and working in an office. I miss trick-or-treating, both as a participant and as a…giver-outer-er of treats.”

 

“No, it’s not Hank,” Alex replied, though she would have preferred that it was the DEO. Instead, Maggie Sawyer had sent her a text. She was tempted not to read it until morning out of petty spite, but she did anyway, in case it was important. They were still 'partners’, after all. For better or worse.

 

Currently, worse.

 

’ _Hey, Danvers. Sorry I had to pass up on those drinks, but why don’t you swing by my office tomorrow morning? I’ve got some cold cases I’d like to cross-reference with your database. Maybe you’ve got some we can help you with too._ ’

 

Alex snorted. Yeah, gee, that sounded like fun.

 

It was strange to think that, a few hours ago, she would have jumped at that idea, or pretty much any reason to grab some time alone with her, getting to know her better. Now that Alex knew she was taken, though? She dreaded spending the day with Maggie. Those flirtatious comments, glances and smirks Maggie gave her that Alex used to find…inexplicably charming despite herself would only serve to drive that nail in deeper. She was not sure she was ready for that. Not just yet.

 

Before she could reply, another text came through. ’ _I know you’re busy, but I don’t like to leave anything unfinished. I get the feeling you don’t either. Might as well pool our resources._ ’

 

Alex squinted at her message, still trying to figure all of this out, to little avail. 

 

What was Maggie’s game? Obviously, she hadn’t known her very long, but Maggie hadn’t seemed like the type of person who would deliberately lead someone on when she was already spoken for. Evidently, Alex had misjudged her.

 

For all she knew, Maggie could have been hooking up with every woman of an appropriate persuasion in National City. Maybe she and her girlfriend had an open relationship, and she was free to take women like Alex to her bed, as long as it wasn’t serious. Alex wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

 

Then again, maybe Alex was being paranoid, and this text was purely work-related. Although, every work-related thing they’d done together so far had been little more than a thinly veiled excuse for Maggie to hit on her. Nevertheless, she didn’t want to let personal feelings interfere with her job.

 

’ _No promises_ ,’ Alex replied, perfectly prepared to send someone else, if Hank allowed it. That might be for the best, in the short term.

 

A few seconds later, Maggie texted back. ’ _If it sweetens the deal, lunch is on me. Later, Danvers._ ’

 

Alex scoffed. Yeah, there it was. The flirting. Alex had stood there and watched Maggie kiss her girlfriend in front of her, but she hadn’t changed her tune at all.

 

Where did Maggie get the nerve? She was acting so casual, texting her like nothing was wrong. It wasn’t like she could feign obliviousness to the idea that Alex might have been into her. Maggie had clearly been sending her signals that she was both interested in her and available this whole time. All that hand-holding and ‘I date humans too, by the way’ (paraphrasing, of course) and the 'wear something nice’. Pfft. Yeah, there was no way any of that could be written off as accidental.

 

Maggie had played Alex for a fool. And it sucked.

 

“Jerk,” Alex grumbled, switching her phone off and tossing it aside, onto the couch.

 

“Yeah!” Kara affirmed, having just finished tidying up, instinctively supporting her sister, despite her obvious confusion. “What a…total jerk. Big…jerky…jerk-face.” Kara trailed off, eyes and brows shifting behind her glasses as she realised Alex wasn’t going to fill in the gaps for her. “…Wait, who are we talking about?”

 

Alex shook her head, uttering an exasperated sigh. She didn’t want to answer that. It would open up a whole can of worms she didn’t have the energy to deal with.

 

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust how Kara would react if she told her she was gay. Of course she would be fine with it. But then that would lead to a big old conversation about why Alex had gone this long keeping it hidden, and that was not something she had any desire to talk about at that moment in time. Someday, but not yet.

 

Besides, what was even the point in coming out if she was going to be single for the rest of her days and never go out with anybody anyway? If she was a celibate spinster, did it really matter that she was a lesbian? Fuck. The one time Alex thought she might actually have met someone she really liked, someone worth coming out for, she got shot down in a rain of burning flames.

 

 _Joy_.

 

“…Alex?” Kara prompted, concerned by her disgruntled silence.

 

“Let’s just… _Hypothetically_ ,” Alex began, raising her index finger as she spoke, signalling that she did not want to go into specifics.

 

“Totally hypothetical,” Kara confirmed, moving to sit sideways on the sofa beside her, one arm perched against the back of the couch while the other cradled a cushion in her lap.

 

“If someone were to…call you all the time, take you out for drinks and…flirt with you and act as though they had an interest in you but, then, when you actually ask them out, all of a sudden you find out they’re with someone and have been this entire time, that would generally be considered pretty shady on their part, wouldn’t it?” Alex asked, seeking validation for this horrible, unpleasant feeling that had been wriggling through her skin for these past two hours.

 

“Shady? No, I’d say that person sounds like – excuse my language – a _butt_ ,” Kara replied, deeply affronted by the thought that Alex had been treated that way.

 

“Thank you!” said Alex, relieved to hear she was right. She wasn’t just being petty, then. Sure, she could always count on Kara to see things from her side, but if she was being unreasonable, she didn’t doubt Kara would have indicated as much, if only by the fact that she was a terrible liar.

 

“Who did that to you, though?” asked Kara, resting her head on her hand, a curious crinkle crossing her brow. “I didn’t know you were seeing somebody.”

 

“Apparently, I wasn’t,” said Alex, dourly.

 

Maybe she was overreacting a little but, honestly, Alex hadn’t felt this betrayed by someone since she was sixteen and got goaded by a close friend into admitting she had a crush on a girl in their group, only for everyone she was friends with to all laugh and run away from her and pick different desks when she went to sit with them in class the next morning. And then they did the same thing at recess. And at lunch, by which point Alex got the message and stopped approaching them. They never spoke to her again throughout her remaining years of high school.

 

The main difference between then and now, other than the obvious absence of homophobia, was that Alex wouldn’t need to be rejected by Maggie three times. Once was enough. That, and there was the possibility that they could go on as friends. That was something, at least.

 

Did Alex want that? Well, yeah, she did. It would hurt, but…well, Alex did still like all those great qualities about Maggie that attracted her to her in the first place: her passion for her work; her strong sense of justice; her unflappable confidence. Whatever else happened, she was an excellent cop and an all-around good person. Just maybe not when it came to relationships.

 

Come to think of it, maybe Alex had dodged a bullet by not ending up with her.

 

…Nope, thinking positive didn’t help; it still felt like she’d been shot.

 

“Anyway, I don’t want to talk about it,” Alex continued, getting up from the couch and heading to the kitchen. They needed ice cream, and lots of it, especially if she had to buckle up her big girl pants and handle working closely with Maggie again tomorrow. The sooner she put her feelings behind her, the better. “Just flick something on. I don’t care what. But nothing romantic,” Alex instructed, dismissively gesturing over her shoulder as she opened the freezer.

 

“I hear you,” said Kara, empathising.

 

Kara hadn’t been in the mood to watch anything romantic either since splitting up with James. Such things just made her glum. Her only strategy to cope with the breakup so far had been to avoid dwelling on it entirely. Except now obviously she was dwelling on it, because Alex had inadvertently reminded Kara why she didn’t want to watch those sappy movies, and thus made her think about him.

 

Great, now Alex felt guilty for that too.

 

“…I think we each need our own tub,” Kara conceded, pouting as she squeezed her cushion tighter.

 

“What, are you made of money?” Alex remarked. Ben & Jerry’s wasn’t cheap. But, then again, she wasn’t going to complain. Those chocolate cookie dough chunks were calling her name.

 

“Tell you what; it’s Halloween, so how about we forget Netflix and watch an old timey horror movie?” Kara suggested. “I’ve sure I’ve got some on the flash drive Winn loaned me. He has very…eclectic tastes.”

 

“Sounds perfect,” said Alex, tossing Kara a tub of ice cream, which she caught easily. Such things had nothing to do with Maggie or any feelings Alex may or may not have had towards her, so it was an ideal distraction. “You got any Hitchcock?”

 

“…N-No…” Kara uncomfortably cleared her throat. “I mean, I might, but I was thinking…you know, goofier horror, that we can laugh at,” said Kara, resting her chin on the cushion she was clutching to her chest as Alex brought over spoons.

 

“Mhmm.” Alex failed to stifle a knowing grin. “Is this because of that time you watched Psycho after Mom said not to and had nightmares for three weeks?”

 

“I was fourteen! I was new here!” Kara insisted, defending herself.

 

“Okay, okay. How about The Birds, if that’s on there?” Alex offered as she sat down again, not about to tease her over that. “I promise, it’s nothing like Psycho. You’ll be fine with it. You’ve seen way worse stuff since.”

 

“…Alright, fine,” said Kara, electing to brave it, flicking the TV over to Winn’s flash drive. Alex was right, after all; she had developed a much higher tolerance for horror and gore in movies and TV shows as she grew older. “But if I get freaked out, this is your fault.”

 

“Kara, you can literally shoot birds out of the sky with your eyes,” Alex pointed out. She had nothing to be afraid of even if the movie was that scary, which it wasn’t.

 

“Fear isn’t rational,” Kara reminded her. And she was right.

 

“Alright, come here then,” said Alex, inviting Kara to rest her head on her shoulder, which she did. “If you don’t like it, just tell me and we’ll watch something else. Deal?” she compromised, taking her first spoonful of ice cream.

 

“Deal,” Kara confirmed, happy with that.

 

Alex smiled to herself. Everything with Maggie had thrown her for a loop, which was something she probably wasn’t going to fully recover from for…a while. But there really was nothing better than sister bonding time for making a blue mood at least a little bit more bearable to deal with.


End file.
